Accordingly with the opinions expressed in the April 2014 Investment Survey (with an inquiring period between the 1st April and the 30th January 2014), the entrepreneurial investment is expected to present a nominal change rate of 2.4% in 2014, which compares with the change rate of 1.1% obtained in the previous survey. The same survey also points to a reduction of investment of 4.0% in 2013, which represents an upward revision comparing with the perspectives revealed in the previous survey (change rate of -8.3%).
Among the investment objectives, the relative weights of the replacement and the rationalization and restructuration investments might increase from 2013 to 2014. The extension of the production capacity decreased its relative weight, although remaining the most referred objective.
Regarding the main limitative factor for business investment identified in the survey, the deterioration of the sales perspectives, followed by the uncertainty about the investment profitability, continued to be the most mentioned in both years, with an increase of their relative weights between 2013 and 2014. The percentage of firms that refer the difficulty in obtaining bank loans, the interest rate level and the self-funding capacity as the main limitative factors decreased.